Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/412

376 11. Rājā Hariç Chandra abuses Dharma. He goes to the forest with his queen and dies. The queen worships Dharma and the Rājā is restored to life. A son is born to them; they name him Lui Chandra. Dharma comes in the guise of a Brāhmin to try the Rājā. The Rājā kills his son Lui in order to feed the Brāhmin with his flesh. Dharma restores Lui to life.

The subjects treated of in this poem strike us by their novelty. The saints Minanāth, Gorakṣnāth, Hāḍipā, and Kālipā had figured as great religious teachers of the masses immediately before the decadence of Buddhism in this country. The places Kadalipāttan, Sāradāpāttan, Amarā and Jājpur were, we suppose, associated in some way or other with important incidents relating to Dharma-worship. We have no historical information whatsoever as to the form in which Buddhism existed in this country and influenced the masses during the time of the Pāl Kings. The Rājās mentioned in the poem probably belonged to that dynasty. However crude and distorted the state in which we find these stories, there was, no doubt, some ground-work of fact on which they were based. When by the researches of scholars, we are put in possession of authentic accounts of later Buddhism, these stories, we venture to hope, may aid materially in unravelling the social history of Bengal at the period in question.

Sahadeva writes for the people; his compositions are full of provincialisms; they are always to the point, and are very little affected by the influence of Sanskrit. As in style, so in subject, he shows an affinity to the Buddhistic school. While